A listing of live jazz events, mostly in North Berkshire and South Bucks, PLUS CD reviews from Geoff

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Photos from the fabulous evening of Winter Ineluctability.

John Slater is the trumpet man with Cookham's fabulous Shirtlifters (see my previous report on the recent evening of Winter Inecluctability). He is also a photographer. Sometimes he manages to contrive to do both at the same time. He has just shared with me some of the shots he took on the night of ineluctability. As may be seen, some of us were more "unmissable" than others!!

Don't forget, Jazz tomorrow night at The Hedsor Social Club. WE are always unmissable!

Friday, February 06, 2009

Hedsor in the Snow

Just a brief note to say "thank you" to all who turned out for Hedsor last night. At one point we thought it might have to be cancelled due to the little local difficulties (Chesham is cut off!), but in the end it was all worthwhile.

Not only did 20 or so come along, but we had a great musical session, with Mike Wills being in exceptional form. He just keeps on getting better and better. If he goes on like this, we will be forced to PAY HIM!! And next week, when I'm sure we will all be basking in some more global warming, we have more of the same!!

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Hi Folks,

Just a short nag:-

TONIGHTS SESSION IS ON

If you are able, don’t forget that tonight at The Hedsor Social Club we have Clive Burton and his Original Quintet!! 8.30 pm start (as always), £5 to get in, including a unique raffle, and club bar prices.

To those who have never been, (and there are still some amongst you!), why not give it a try. We offer excellent jazz every week, and with it we offer a level of friendship which, I think, is worth mentioning. Don’t feel scared of walking through the door, we intend to make a friend of you before you go home.

I have played 3 or 4 tracks from the CD, and it obviously represents all the genre of music he can play. It tends to ere on the side of post bop modern, funky. For me, it’s a sound I like. On one track a lady singer (YB Pilgrim?!) competes with Billy Holiday to sing “God Bless The Child”, which I don’t think comes off but do have a listen yourself on the myspace site linked above.

Having listened to him last week with Simon Spillett, it would be great to have a recording of Stuart playing Modern Jazz (Bop) in the manner he played for us at Hedsor. I really think Stuart is a trumpet “find”, and as good as any modern jazz trumpet I have ever heard.

Humphrey Lyttelton

Whilst trying to find some information about pianist Mick Pyne, I chanced on the new website for Humph http://www.humphreylyttelton.com/ . This now gives you the ability to download all of the Calligraph recordings of the Lyttelton band, including the last 2 he made (Cornucopia, and Cornucopia 2). I heard the band represented by these recordings shortly before his death, and I will say that they are much better than I had perhaps feared. It’s a superb band, and Humph’s own playing is more limited than in his prime, but not so hesitant as to make you feel awkward about it (as his live performance did). You can sample before you buy, and I downloaded the 2 above via Amazon MP3. They are worth having, especially if, like me, you had all of his others as well.